Statistics gathered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on campus law offenses show that many universities continue to understate crimes in the annual reports they are required to release to the public.

The Clery Act, passed in 1990, requires that schools receiving federal funds disclose the number of crimes on and near campus each year to the public. But the FBI study suggests many schools misrepresent these figures by classifying some burglaries as larcenies, which are not required to appear on the crime report.

The FBI-compiled statistics show that many schools report a much higher number of larcenies than burglaries. Burglary is defined as theft that includes an unlawful entry into a home.

Zachary Seward, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal who compared the FBI’s statistics with crime reports released by colleges and universities, said that discrepancies between larcenies and burglaries may indicate an intentional misclassification by universities.

“If there’s such a wide gap between the numbers – and you can’t say for sure without looking at the incidence reports – it doesn’t jive well with national trends in civic education,” Seward said.

Still, many schools use different interpretations of the handbook’s definition of burglaries and larcenies, complicating a comparison of crime between them based on the released report.

According to the Department of Education’s “Handbook for Campus Crime Reporting,” schools can face fines up to $27,500 for every substantial misrepresentation in number, location or nature of crimes required to be reported.

Paul Bresson, press officer at the FBI, could not be reached for comment.

Washington, D.C., schools were not included in the FBI’s 2005 statistics.

Doris Bey, associate director of the Department of Public Safety, said that D.C. schools do not use larcenies to categorize crimes, unlike other colleges. According to the annual DPS crime report, Georgetown reported 70 burglaries in 2005.

Bey said Georgetown strictly adheres to the Clery Act regulations.

“When you misrepresent actual crime, it does not reflect well with the community,” she said.

Vice President for University Safety David Morrell said that Georgetown does its best to comply with the Clery Act by reporting crimes in a daily log and releasing an annual crime report.

“Here at Georgetown, there is no interest from anyone, especially me, in not divulging crime statistics,” he said.

Shannon Mullen (COL ’08), a member of the Student Safety Advisory Board, said that she did not know of any incidents at Georgetown where a crime has been misreported.

“I think DPS and the university as a whole is very forthright in letting people know when crimes occur,” Mullen said.